If you need a light, I'd find a match...
Remus sat down with a flop on the couch in grimmauld place. He sighed, he had promised Sirius he would stop by to talk after his interview, but said interview did not go so well. Now, he was here and couldn't find Sirius. He wasn't worried, though, the house was so big it wasn't unusual for Sirius to get "lost".
Well, I guess I will just wait for a bit, until Sirius shows up, I have nothing better to do, Remus thought to himself and grabbed the nearest book of the coffee table, flipping it over so he could read the back of it A wizards guide to muggles electricity it read. Hmmm, Arthur must have left this here last Wednesday... Remus shrugged and set it back down. He looked around the small sitting room taking in the house he already knew so well.
The ghastly flower-printed sofa, the burgundy wingback chair, that he loved, the large fireplace, which was dark, cold, and empty, the tall bookshelf that reached the ceiling, the huge, crystal chandleir that hung from the tall ceiling, catching all the dust... Remus pulled himself off the couch and walked over to the mahogany bookshelf, reading the titles: hogwarts a history, the little broom that could, household spells that every home-witch should know, dark arts and how to spot them, just to name a few. Remus couldn't help but grin when he saw a hogwarts a history, remembering how many times he had read that very copy, when he was a student. He pulled it off the shelf and blew the dust off of it, coughing a bit as he got some in his lungs. The spine showed a tiny bit of damage and the pages were so dog-eared that it looked to be about fifty years old, not twenty-four. Wow, only twenty four years? He thought to himself. It felt like so much longer, since we was a teenager. He remembered the day he got that very book...
Remus walked across the grounds of the school as he made his way to the shore of the black lake. Today was his fifteenth birthday, and his friends had asked him to meet them under their favorite tree. He was excited that they had remembered this year. The tree came into view as well as his four friends who were beneath it: James, who was sitting with his back against the trunk and his long legs sprawled in front of him; lily, who was sitting next to James,Indian style, reading something; padfoot, who was sprawled out on the grass, turning each leaf above him a different color; and last, but not least, was little, mousy Peter. Remus didnt think the others treated Peter very fairly, so he always went out of his way to show kindness to wormtail.
Once he was a few yards away all of his friends got up grinning at him and shouted "happy birthday!" Remus grinned and ran the last few steps to them. Lily threw her arms around his neck "happy birthday Remus! I got you something!. She said stepping back and getting her bag off the grassy lawn. As she rooted around in it, Remus got hugs, high-fives, and back-slaps from his other three pals. "Here it is!" Lily exclaimed pulling a large squared-shaped package out of her bag and handed it to him "open it up!" She commanded, smiling widely at him. Remus plopped down in a nice spot on the grass and ripped the paper off the present "a hogwarts a history? Oh! Thank you, lily! I've been meaning to read this!"
Remus smiled at the memory, that was one of his favorite birthdays. Well, until James and Sirius had thrown him into the lake. He chuckled at the memory. Remus was stirred out of his thoughts as a loud CRASH resounded through the house, something had just fallen down in the hall, figuring it was Sirius, finally showing up, he headed towards the sound.
"Crap, crap, CRAP!" A female voice muttered. Remus smiled, recognizing who was speaking, and it most certainly wasn't padfoot. As he she came into view, Remus leaned against the doorframe, "hello, tonks!" He said smiling softly at her. He enjoyed tonks company immensely, she was sweet and funny, not to mention the amount of audacity she had. It also helped that she didn't know about his 'furry little problem', he liked that she was just herself around him.
"Oh, er, hello Remus. I didn't know you were here." Tonks said, her hair turning peach. It never failed to amaze him, her morphing. "Yeah, I've been waiting for Sirius to unbury himself from the depths of this house... For about..." Remus looked at his watch "twenty minutes" he looked up at her and smiled "care to keep me company?" Tonks looked at him and she straightened the troll leg and her hair went back to the color it had been, brown. "of course! Id love to!" she gave him a genuine smile before saying "What do you have there?" She craned her neck, looking at the book in his hand.
Remus smiled, "long story" he said. " I have time" tonks replied winking at him. He loved how she was so relaxed around her, as well as her young energy, it made him feel young again, which wasn't an easy feat, by any means. "Well, I'll only tell you if you join me in the kitchen for a cup of hot chocolate" he said grinning at her. She looks lovely today he thought as he realized what she was wearing: black leggings under a sweater dress that was the shade of rose petals, it contrasted nicely with her alabaster skin, which was creamy and smooth looking. Her hair was a little longer than shoulder length and was the most beautiful shade of brown he had ever seen.
"All dressed up to see Sirius?" Remus asked playfully, forgetting to be guarded around her, like always. "Oh, completely. You know his dashingly good looks make me feel so plain" she joked, laughing. Her laugh sounded like the tinkling of silver bells. It was a nice sound. A spund he enjoyed. What are you thinking, you prat. Sure, she is attractive, but she is 12 years younger than you. You don't need to list all of her good qualities, no matter how many she may have, Remus scolded himself. He often had to remind himself not to get too close to her. He wasn't good for her.
Tonks couldn't quit smiling, she took another sip of her, now cool, hot chocolate. She loved to hear Remus tell stories about the marauder days. She could listen to him talk for hours on end, she loved his gentle, but deep voice. "I'll have to find a way to mess with Sirius, now that you gave me all that information" tonks giggled. "Oh, no, you might make my life difficult, and you would want to do that. Now, would you?" Remus said bumping her foot with his underneath the table. She stuck her tongue out at him and said "maybe I would."
Remus leaned his kitchen chair back on two legs and stretched, which tonks enjoyed. She liked the look of his lean body. His shirt pulled up a bit and she saw a few scars on his stomach." Is it okay if I ask you something?" She suddenly said quietly. "Hmm?" Remus murmured while getting up to put his mug in the sink.
He turned around and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms loosely over his chest, his dark blie short sleeves rolledmup to hos elbows, his tanned forearms showing, also covered in scars. Tonks stood up and reached around him, leaning close to his body as she dropped her mug in the sink, along side his. "Where did you get your scars?" Her voice was timid and slight, which surprised Remus thoroughly, she wasn't one to be careful. He suddenly became self conscious, something he never was around her sparkling personality, and ran his hand over his unshaven jaw.
"I was wondering when you would ask..." He said with a sigh. Tonks leaned against the table, across from where he was standing "you don't have to tell me, if you don't want to." She said softly, looking at him with an understanding gleam in her eye. "No, it's fine..." Remus said wearily, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and finger. He knew this was inevitable. "I'm a werewolf" he stated simply, expecting her to leave. Or cry.
"Oh. Okay.. Tonks said smiling at him. Remus was confused. Really confused. Wasn't she scared? He took a step closer to her, he was now close enough to see the flecks on silver in her violet eyes, trying to see of she was scared. She didn't move. She looked strongly back into his eyes. "Aren't you scared of me?" He asked quietly. Tonks let out a tinkle of laughter, "Of course not, silly! Why would I be?" Remus looked at her, dumbfounded. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I'm dangerous?" He said, sarcastically.
Just as he finished saying dangerous the house went dark. Dark? How late is it? Have we really been talking that long? What happened to the lights? All of this went through remus's head as he instinctively reached out to grab ahold of something, and touched tonk's arm. "Sorry." Remus muttered, jerking his hand back. "What happened?" He heard her light voice ask. "I don't kn- OW!" Remus exclaimed as he has accidentally set his hand on what must have been a stray knife, lying on the counter.
He touched it with his other hand and could feel a lot of hot blood. "Are you okay? What happened?" Tonks asked with obvious worry in her voice.
"Oh, it's nothing. Just a cut" lupin said, trying to ease her worry. "Let me.. Well, let me feel, since I can't see..." Tonks said, worry still in her voice. Remus sighed and held his hand out, waiting for her to find his hand in the dark. She lightly found his fingers and he felt electricity from her touch. He jerked back. "Did I hurt you?" Tonks asked and he could feel her take a step forward, they couldn't be more than five inches apart, now. He could feel her warmth. "No, umn, just startled me." He said, realizing how lame he must've sounded. Tonks reached out and found his hand again.
"Oh, this feels pretty deep. We need to get a light on so I can get a better look..." She trailed off. "Bloody- ugh. I forgot my wand in the sitting room!" She sounded extremely frustrated with herself. "What kind of auror am I?" Remus smiled and softly said "A good one, its not like you would've been worried about me hurting you before." "Before what?" Tonks asked, sounding irritated. Remus was about to respond when he heard someone shout a trail of curse words from a couple floors up. Both tonks and Remus said "Sirius" as the same time. They both let out a nervous chuckle. "Hang on." Tonks said.
Remus could feel her brush up against him as she walked past. He tensed. Then he heard drawers opening and shutting, quickly. "What are you doing?" He asked. "Ahhah!" She exclaimed and he heard a snitch sound and then he could see her face, just a few inches in front of him. "I found a match!" She said, grinning at him, the flame top close to her hair, for his liking. He gently moved her hand away from her face a bit. "Now let me look at your hand." She reached down and lightly grabbed his hand, which was lying at his side. He watched her as she lit a candle and set it on the counter, still holding his bloody hand.
"That's better, now lets see..." She looked at it rather closely. "Mmm, doesn't look to bad. I can fix that!" She said, and before he could stop her she reached into his back pocket. "Hey! What are you doing?" He exclaimed, shocked. He jumped back, jerking his hand with him. "Ouch, bloody heck." He mumbled as he moved his hand wrong and it split a bit further open. "Ah!" She held up his wand and muttered a spell. His hand started to heal itself, as a stinging sensation spread throughout his arm. He realized he was blushing and looked back down at tonks who had a strange look on her face. He cleared his throat and muttered a thanks. Just as he was running his hands through his hair the lights turned back on, and Remus heard cheering from the second floor. Sirius came clunking down the stairs into the kitchen and stopped suddenly. "Oh. When did you two get here? Oh, nevermind! Guess what I just did? I fixed the electerricitae! Arthur left me a book on how to and I did it! By myself!" Sirius looked at them, obviously expecting praise. A chorus of good jobs and congrats came from the two, very embarrassed, blushing adult mouths. "Want to stay for dinner?" Sirius said, then looked at them suspiciously, noticing something was off.
"Well, I'd better get going" Remus said, getting up from the table. "Thanks for dinner, Sirius!" He said, appreciative, he was glad he didn't have to eat cold take out leftovers again. "Don't thank me, thank Molly. She brought it over the other day." Sirius said, half smiling half grimacing. Remus knew that Sirius appreciated it, he just wished he could take care of himself. Remus gave Sirius a half smile and patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks anyway, mate. I'll bring dinner next time."
Tonks got up and stretched "wait up, I'd better go too. I have work in the morning. But, I have an idea. How about once a week the three of us have dinner? We can take turns bringing it. But, ill warn you two... I'm a terrible cook." Tonks grinned when sirius and remus agreed that her idea was fantastic. She hugged Sirius and headed towards the door with Remus.
"I always feel bad, leaving him alone." Tonks whispered, sounding sad, realizing how lonely he would be. "Yeah. Me too." Remus sighed and started pulling on his shabby trench coat, "So, you never told me why you were all gussied up!" Remus said, smirking at her. "Oh, that. I just had a meeting with the head auror, scriminger, at a restaurant." She answered, rolling her eyes and pulling on her forest green peacoat.
"Ohh, a date?" Remus said, wiggling his eyebrows. He knew it would bother her. She rolled her eyes again, "He wishes! If that creature hits on me one more time, and I don't care if he is my boss or not, I am going to hex the living soul out of him!" Tonks said frustrated, as her hair turned red. Remus laughed, delighted with her morphing, once again. She sighed and made it turn her favorite shade of bubblegum pink again. As they headed out the door tonks turned around and gave him one last charming smile and apparated. He then realized he had forgotten all about his failed job interview. If he was honest with himself, SHE made him forget about it, with her laughter and happiness... Had she really not cared that he was a werewolf? Or was she just being kind? Remus sighed and ran his hand through his hair, he couldn't deny it much longer. He had been charmed by that colorful witch.